WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS) & Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) Financial Contrast

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) and WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Great Southern Bancorp and WSFS Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Great Southern Bancorp	0	3	1	0	2.25
WSFS Financial	0	3	4	1	2.75

Great Southern Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $60.50, indicating a potential downside of 0.84%. WSFS Financial has a consensus target price of $70.58, indicating a potential upside of 10.95%. Given WSFS Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe WSFS Financial is more favorable than Great Southern Bancorp.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

41.7% of Great Southern Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.5% of WSFS Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 27.9% of Great Southern Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of WSFS Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Great Southern Bancorp has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WSFS Financial has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Great Southern Bancorp and WSFS Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Great Southern Bancorp	$342.78 million	1.95	$70.97 million	$6.20	9.84
WSFS Financial	$1.36 billion	2.47	$287.35 million	$5.10	12.47

WSFS Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Great Southern Bancorp. Great Southern Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WSFS Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Great Southern Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. WSFS Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Great Southern Bancorp pays out 27.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. WSFS Financial pays out 13.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. WSFS Financial has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Great Southern Bancorp and WSFS Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Great Southern Bancorp	20.70%	11.33%	1.22%
WSFS Financial	21.14%	10.89%	1.41%

Summary

WSFS Financial beats Great Southern Bancorp on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Great Southern Bancorp

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Great Southern Bank that provides a range of financial services in the United States. Its deposit products include regular savings accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, fixed interest rate certificates with varying maturities, certificates of deposit, brokered certificates, and individual retirement accounts. The company's loan portfolio comprises residential and commercial real estate loans, commercial business loans, construction loans, home improvement loans, and unsecured consumer loans, as well as secured consumer loans, such as automobile loans, boat loans, home equity loans, and loans secured by savings deposits. It also provides insurance and merchant banking services. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri.

About WSFS Financial

WSFS Financial Corporation operates as the savings and loan holding company for the Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB that provides various banking services in the United States. It operates through three segments: WSFS Bank, Cash Connect, and Wealth Management. It offers various deposit products, including savings accounts, demand deposits, interest-bearing demand deposits, money market deposit accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as accepts jumbo certificates of deposit from individuals, businesses, and municipalities. The company also provides a range of loans, which comprise fixed and adjustable rate residential loans; commercial mortgage and commercial loans; commercial construction loans; commercial loans for working capital, financing equipment and real estate acquisitions, business expansion and other business purposes; and consumer credit products, such as home equity loans, home equity lines of credit, automobile loans, unsecured lines of credit, and other secured and unsecured personal installment loans. In addition, it offers insurance products; planning and advisory services, investment management, trust services, and credit and deposit products to individual, corporate and institutional clients; retail securities and insurance brokerage services; mortgage and title services; residential mortgage and refinancing solutions; and leases small equipment and fixed assets, as well as provides financial planning, customized investment strategies, brokerage products, fiduciary, and wealth management services. Further, the company provides ATM vault cash, smart safe, and other cash logistics services; and online reporting and ATM cash management, predictive cash ordering and reconcilement services, armored carrier management, loss protection, and deposit safe cash logistics services, as well as trustee, agency, bankruptcy administration, custodial and commercial domicile services. The company was founded in 1832 and is based in Wilmington, Delaware.